NEW YORK -- Thousands of service members and veterans of every conflict since World War II marched up Fifth Avenue as New York celebrated Veterans Day on Friday.
At a ceremony before the parade kicked off, CIA Director David Petraeus called the men and women currently serving overseas "the new greatest generation."
"In crushing heat and numbing cold, from the Iraqi desert to the peaks of the Hindu Kush, they have shown valor, creativity, initiative and resolve," said Petraeus, the retired four-star general who became CIA director in September.
Hundreds of veterans and their family members filled Manhattan's Madison Square Park for the ceremony, which ended with a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and other dignitaries shared the dais with veterans including Nicholas Oresko, at 94 the oldest living recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. posed for photos before riding a float with members of the Tuskegee Airmen, the African-American aviators who served in World War II.
Some veterans said the federal government must do more to provide jobs and services to returning service members.
"They need to speed it up," said Anthony Johnson, who spent 11 years in the Army and then the Marines. "I'm 55 and I'm unemployed. I can't even get a job. ... "I don't see them really doing anything; it's just a lot of talk."
John Casey, 64, who served in Vietnam and retired as an Army command sergeant major, said veterans need resources, jobs and counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder.
"War is terrible," he said.
But Casey was cheered by the large turnout for the ceremony and the parade.
"At least now people aren't spitting on the veterans," he said.
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